The Faith of the Seven
The Faith of the Seven is the largest and most populous faith in Westeros, dwarfing the others in all kingdoms but the Iron Islands and the North. However, in recent years cracks have formed in the monolyth that is the Faith, leading to The Schism of the Faith. History and the Three Schisms The Faith of the Seven was founded millennia ago when the Divine Spirit revealed itself in the Personage of Seven to Hugo of the Hill. The Seven gave him their divine consent, plucked seven stars from the sky to form his crown, and conferred upon him their wisdom. This knowledge, later written down, became part of the book known as the Seven-Pointed Star. The Faith is a theocracy led by the High Septon, who is selected from amongst the Most Devout, the ruling council of the Faith that includes seven septons, seven septas, and the High Septon. This particular High Septon, known colloquially as The Tenacious One, has gained a reputation for being inflexible on matters of faith and dogma. Due to a combination of this High Septon’s uncompromising orthodoxy, a series of controversial predecessors, and no small amount of scheming from powers both secular and spiritual, the Faith of the Seven has suffered a schism into three separate factions: the Unionists, the Divisionists, and the Dominionists. The Unionists (The Kingdom of Mountain and Vale, The Kingdom of the Trident, The Kingdom of the Torrentine, The Kingdom of the Dusklands) Unionism is the orthodox Faith, which believes that the Seven are one and manifested in the world by the High Septon. The Unionists currently control the Warrior’s Sons and ten of the fifteen Most Devout. Of all the Unionist supporters, none are as powerful as the Vale. The current High Septon previously served as the Septon of Gulltown for nearly two decades and, when Oldtown fell first to Ironborn reavers under Lord Qorwyn Drumm and later to Divisionist schismatics, the High Septon retreated to the Eyrie to reorganize and begin his efforts to unravel the rival cliques within the Faith. It is therefore no surprise that the High Septon is an ardent supporter of the King of the Vale, whom he believes will be instrumental in reasserting the divine order of things, and periodically turns his fiery sermons to the benefit of King Andar II Arryn. Other Unionist strongholds include the High Kingdom of the Torrentine, whose crown prince was wed in a ceremony officiated by the High Septon; the majority of the Trident, which still clings to the orthodox view of the world; and the Kingdom of the Dusklands, whose willingness to advocate for the Unionist cause may be due to its proximity to the Vale and the Trident. Unionist doctrine maintains that the Seven are One. Unionists believe that the Faith should be administered by a single institution, synonymous with the religion itself, that transcends political boundaries and is responsible for all matters of faith, regardless whose subjects those matters may concern. Unionists believe that the High Septon, selected from the male members of the Most Devout, is the avatar of the Seven-Who-Are-One and thus has absolute authority over matters of the Faith. The Divisionists (The Kingdom of the Reach, The Principality of Dorne) Divisionism is a sect that claims the Seven are seven separate deities, not seven faces of a single god, and thus they act independently according to their own whims. Each of these seven gods is manifested in the world by an individual, their Avatar or High Incarnate. Each of the seven gods has an order pledged to it that carries out good works in their names, works usually carried out in the service of the patron deity’s interests. The Divisionist Faith is an egalitarian interpretation of the Faith of the Seven. Unlike the orthodox Faith, which elects a male High Septon from among the seven males present among the Most Devout, who are themselves rigorously screened to ensure they meet the expectations of the more senior members of that body, there are only two requirements to be named a High Incarnate: first, a reputable septon must present a would-be Avatar’s case to the High Incarnates and heads of the various Orders and second, sufficient evidence must exist to establish an individual as a previously unrecognized Avatar. Prior to the Sack of Oldtown, Divisionist septons had swayed the Poor Fellows, convincing them to abandon the Warrior’s Sons in a last-ditch defense of the Starry Sept. Once the Ironborn were thrown back into the sea, the Poor Fellows, acting under the leadership of Septon Kennet and Septa Genna, collected all the of the Faith’s gold and ornamentation, melted it down, and used it to finance an enormous outreach program. Each of the seven Orders took their share of the wealth and dedicated it to the service of their patron deity. The Order of the Mother drew the most attention, however, when it used social outreach programs, such as providing free clothing and meals to smallfolk, to actively convert the majority of the Reach’s populace to the Divisionist cause. Whether this ground-up movement has managed to truly sway the lords of those lands, or if they are simply paying lip service to the High Incarnates to avoid rebellion, remains to be seen. The smallfolk of the Reach are the primary supporters of the Divisionist movement. With the exception of the current High Septon, nearly all High Septons elected in the past three hundred years have been Riverlanders or Valemen. It is whispered that Houses Gardener and Hightower fanned the flames of Divisionist sentiment to undermine this traditionally foreign leader operating with impunity from Oldtown’s most sacred sept; both Houses vehemently deny this accusation. However, House Hightower has made no move to oust the Divisionists from the Starry Sept and gold and resources flowing into the hands of the Orders of the Seven cannot be adequately explained by the looting of Unionist septs. Divisionist doctrine maintains that the Seven are seven separate gods, each manifested in the world by an Avatar or High Incarnate, who is the head of an order of men and women sworn to their deity’s cause. Compared to the pageantry of traditional religious ceremonies, their revised ceremonies are ascetic. To Divisionists, the Faith is something that is inseparable from its people and does not require seven walls to be worshipped properly. A field will serve a Divisionist septon just as well as the Starry Sept. The Dominionists (The Kingdom of the Rock, The Kingdom of the Stormlands, The Kingdom of the Trident, The Kingdom of the Greenbelt, and The Kingdom of the Claw) Dominionism is a sect that is firmly grounded in the secular. Dominionism agrees with Unionism on many matters of Faith, from how many gods there are to the general administration of the Faith, but differs in one important capacity: Dominionists believe that when the Seven placed a crown on the head of Hugo of the Hill, anointing him and granting him their blessing, they also conferred upon him kingship over matters spiritual as well as secular. Dominionism was an inevitable reaction to a century of mismanagement, corruption, and impropriety from the current High Septon’s predecessors. Dominionists saw the breakdown of the Faith’s central administration, upon which all the spiritual stability of Westeros was based, and simultaneously saw that secular kings were in the process of centralizing ever-increasing amounts of power in their courts. Dominionists realized that the Faith should be subordinated not to a foreign man in a foreign city that was as likely to father bastards as revise canon law, but to the person that was ultimately responsible for the secular wellbeing of his people and who also had a vested interest in ensuring the spiritual needs of his people were met: the local lord and, ultimately, the king. The king is responsible for appointing or removing septons, for enforcing spiritual as well as secular law, for building and maintaining septs, for safeguarding pilgrims and holy men as they travel, and for serving as the final arbiter on all matters of the Faith. In return for these responsibilities, the lands and holdings of the Faith have fallen under secular administration of the nearby lords. Dominionist doctrine maintains that the Seven are One. Dominionist doctrine marries the Sept and the State, organizing the spiritual administration alongside and in mirror image to the secular administration of the kingdom in which they reside. The Most Devout serve as the day-to-day leaders of the Dominionist Faith, but they are beholden to their king, who has final authority on all matters in his kingdom both spiritual and secular. To facilitate this, all lands and holdings of the Faith have been seized by the various Dominionist kings, that they might administer those holdings like all others. Clergy and Groups The clergy of the Faith is composed of Septons, Septas, Begging Brothers, and Brown Brothers & Sisters of varying orders who serve the faithful. Faith Militant The Faith Militant is the military arm of the Faith, under the command of the High Septon It was composed of two military orders, the Warrior's Sons and the Poor Fellows, known as the "Swords" and the "Stars" for their respective symbols. The Faith Militant is therefore also known as the Swords and Stars '''or '''Stars and Swords. Poor Fellows The Poor Fellows is an order of Westrosi, mostly smallfolk, sworn to the Faith of the Seven. They are otherwise known as the Stars, as they use a red seven-pointed star as their badge. The Poor Fellows obey and answer nearly completely to the Divisionists, as they believe the seven are truly that - seven different gods. They are based in the Mander region, in Highgarden. Warrior Sons The Warrior Sons are knights who renounced their titles, lands, gold, and possessions to fight for the Seven. They swore their swords to the High Seption and the Unionists. They wear inlaid silver armor over hair shirts, rainbow cloaks, and swords with star-shaped crystals in their pommels. They developed a reputation for fanaticism and implacable hatred for enemies of the Faith - and even more so for those of rival schisms. The Seven-Pointed Star The Seven-Pointed Star is the de-facto religious text of all sects of the Faith. It is divded into seven parts, each book named after one of the aspects of the Seven - "The Book of the Maiden," "The Warrior's Codex," "Father's Book," etc. Category:Westeros Category:Religion Category:The Faith of the Seven